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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Michael

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I learned how standards work on my first dirt bike when I was 12 or so, and it wasn't hard to translate that into driving a stick. The first car I really drove extensively was my ex-gf's father's 944 in high school.

It seems to me that you and I will never agree, since the core of my argument is that the playoffs should be decided by series (7 game series at that) in order to determine who is the better team. Short series and the spacing between the games allow teams to roll out their aces twice a series, whereas longer series are a test of depth.

Baseball has always been about the depth of teams. That is why the regular season is so long, and that is why until recently it was considered absurd to have anything but series. I don't entirely disagree with you and see that there is some merit to your reasoning, but I disagree with you entirely that these benefits outweigh the assault on the very core of the game itself.

There are 162 games in the regular season, and if one wildcard makes it in by a couple games over the next best ones, then so be it. Just like the Braves, they could have helped themselves by winning their games.

I understand these arguments, but I think some of the positive components of what you outline are overridden by what happened in 2012 during the first iteration of this format. A 94 win Braves team had to play an 88 win Cardinals team and ultimately lost a game played under protest due to one of the worst calls I have ever seen. Anyone who watched that game - which wasn't many because it started at 5PM on a Friday - should understand why a one game anything in baseball is not tenable; precisely because of that randomness.

That the Cards went on to win the WS is a moot point, as they had no business being given equal treatment to a team that had a 6 game advantage on them, which played in a superior division, and which had won 5 of the 6 games against the Cardinals that season.

An individual baseball game is more "random" because there are far more variables at work than there are in basketball, for example, where the same 6-8 guys play the same 6-8 other who run more or less the same plays. In baseball the batter-pitcher matchup, coupled with just how difficult it is for the offense to score in general produces such outcomes.

I think baseball would be less "random" if the playoffs were as inclusive as other leagues, where the top 6-8 from the AL/NL each make it and they play a 7 game series (5 game series are too short IMO). In that scenario I think the better teams would win out at a similar rate as in football.

That being said, I would hate that as a baseball fan. I think the 1 game play-in game is an abomination that should be strapped to an ICBM and launched into the sun.

In the student section right behind a group of 30 or so PSU fans that were huge assholes to everyone around them the entire time. I can't believe how many M students sold their tickets during fall break; A2 was INFESTED with PSU bros that weekend. They were out on South U and elsewhere picking fights and whatnot the Friday before. Funny how they didn't seem to be around on Saturday night. This is when I lost all respect for PSU, well before the most recent...events.

This and Braylonfest were the two best live moments in sports for me.

That Saturday was one of the biggest party nights that took place while I was at M. I think because it was a generally terrible season to that point and the game ended at night the student body turned it up to 11.

If I'm not mistaken that correction has to do with the speed of the satellite in orbit being faster than the speed of someone standing on the surface. The same principle would apply if you placed a clock on an extremely tall tower - the top is rotating faster than the base.

These are two different principles at work here. Says that guy who's never taken physics, anyway (me).

At some point doesn't the University have to consider how far it is willing to go to remain competitive in this environment? I think we have two great coaches in Harbaugh and Beilein, but as the years go on, Michigan will be challenged in its ability to do things the right way while also remaining competitive. I think we are currently very near the edge of the envelope.

I think my senior year (07-08) was probably the last year you could really sneak in as a late night destination. They kept everything locked, but we found a tree next to the fence on the on the Crisler side that was helpful in getting over the fence.

Depending on the security guard's enthusiasm and weather, you could get a lot of time in on the field. It was pretty epic after a fresh snow.

The best part is that the security lights were bright enough for you to see pretty well. I'm sure it's totally different now. Thanks, Dave Brandon.

I'm not really sure they are at a disadvantage in recruiting because Michigan is running a series of half day camps in the South. Auburn is permanently located in Alabama, so I don't think things have changed. Plus they pay their players, etc.

They are just whining because they are babies.

Also I think it's hilarious that Auburn thinks it is a bigger name than Michigan.

I had similar experience too, and it was an extremely bizarre feeling. On one hand I wanted us to ruin what I perceived at the time to be a small chance they would make the playoffs, just so I could be assured that they wouldn't win it all.

On the other, I felt as you described - I needed Michigan to lose to ensure Hoke wouldn't be retained.

I don't know if I was happy, but I sure wasn't upset about the whole thing. I hope I never have to feel like that again.